Is the Spanish Navy really nothing in 1898? The answer is obviously no.

In the last decade of the 19th century, because Spain's economic situation was quite qualified, and after being filled with warmth and thought, the Spanish government devoted it to the construction of warships. After several years of construction, a batch of new ships that replaced the old ships were built by the Spanish; to this day, the Spanish Navy is not as powerful as most people imagine, but has an ocean-going fleet with considerable strength.

The ironclad ship "Peraijo" was built by the French LaSeyne shipyard, which is the absolute core of the Spanish fleet at present. This ship, completed in 1888, is 111 meters long, 18.6 meters wide, has a draft of 6.6 meters, and has a permanent displacement of 9,745 tons. The 12 boilers gave it a power output of 8,000 horsepower, allowing it to travel on the sea surface at a speed of 16.2 knots. This was a very good speed at that time, and it did not seem much behind even today 10 years later. It was equipped with 2 12.5-inch and 2 11-inch main guns, 1 164.7-mm gun and 14 120-mm secondary guns. The waterline has 450-mm thick steel-surfaced iron armor. Both firepower and protection were extremely powerful at that time.

After ordering this 10,000-ton ironclad ship from the French shipyard, Spain also built several fresh goods. In 1889, one year after the Peraio service, the construction of three second-class ironclad ships of the "Princess Maria Denisa" class kicked off at the Bilbao Shipyard in Spain. Their regular displacement is 6,890 tons, equipped with two 11-inch main guns and 10 5.5-inch secondary guns. Their firepower can be said to be quite strong for its tonnage. The most commendable thing is its speed. Under strong pressure and ventilation, the power of this class can output a strong power of 13,700 horsepower, and can push the warship to a high speed of more than 20 knots! Although its 12-inch thick main armor height is terrible, it is generally a good warship.

In addition to these four iron-clad ships that are outdated by the first-class navy, there is also a warship in the Spanish fleet that is truly at the top of the world, which is the Garibo Class Armored Cruiser built by Italy. This class of ships that Italy started construction in 1894 can be said to be the most outstanding peak work on this planet: its permanent displacement is only 6,773 tons, but it has 1 254mm L40 main gun, 2 203mm L45 main guns, 14 152mm L40 secondary guns and 6 120mm L40 secondary guns! In terms of speed, the ship's power unit can reach a power output of 13,000 horsepower without any pressure, which can make it soar on the sea surface at a speed of 20 knots. And in armor

On top, its entire 150mm Havi armor covers the entire height of the entire freeboard; it is not only immune to the 8-inch shells patrolled by the enemy, but even the 12-inch giant shells that are not yet mature yet cannot penetrate it! (However, no matter how good the weapon is, it must be used by qualified soldiers. Although the Spaniards have such a warship that has completely exploded the world, their sailor qualities are comparable to the Italian army. In the Battle of Santiago on July 3, 1898, this armored cruiser with the best actual protection on the entire battlefield and is almost immune to any shell. After only two 120-mm shells and four 57-mm shells were hit by the Americans, the captain was frightened and sank.)

Although the Spanish fleet was quite strong and bullying the rioters were like slaughtering pigs and dogs, facing the Americans on the other side of the ocean, this naval strength was completely insufficient.

Currently, the United States has three battleships with displacement of more than 10,000 tons in the Atlantic Fleet on the East Coast. The first two ships belong to the same class, with four 330mm L35 main guns arranged at the beginning and end in the form of a double-mounted turret, and eight 203mm L35 secondary guns are also placed on both sides of the battleship in the form of a double-mounted turret. The other Iowa was just completed in June last year. With the freeboard raised, the firepower was reduced to four 35-fold 305mm main guns, and the secondary gun is equivalent to the Indiana class. You should know that the main guns of these American Iron Turtles all use turret-type structures.

The rate of fire can reach 1 round per minute, far better than the barbarians of the British majestic pseudo-turret! Although their main armor is only a small narrow strip and its speed can only crawl slowly at a speed of 15 or 16 knots, its super firepower above all the main battleships in the world during the same period is enough to tear any of the Spanish warships to pieces! The United States also has an Indiana-class battleship in the Pacific Ocean. A few days after the explosion of the Maine, the iron turtle with a permanent displacement of 10,288 tons, carrying 4 13-inch guns, 8 8-inch guns and 4 6-inch guns, has begun to travel day and night to the east coast of the United States at a speed of 12 knots.

Faced with such a strong lineup of the Americans, Spain could not resist it; but at this time, the Spanish Navy broke its own pillar. Their most powerful ironclad ship "Peraijo" began to undergo large-scale modernization modification in 1897, and is still lying in the domestic dry dock and cannot go out to sea to fight. With one Garibal Class Perfect Cruise and three 6,890-ton second-class ironclad ships alone, it is obviously not the opponent of the four American battleships, one second-class ironclad ship and two armored cruisers. Once the war begins, the United States will undoubtedly seize the sea control of the Caribbean Sea; and this is something Spain absolutely does not allow to see!

To this day, in order to suppress the Cuban uprising, Spain has invested more than 200,000 troops on this island across the ocean. And such a huge army consumes extremely amazing materials every day. Cuba alone can obviously not meet the normal needs of this army. Taking a step back, even if basic materials such as food can be solved on the spot through plunder, what about arms and ammunition? These things are completely unavailable in Cuba, and they all rely on Spain.

Trans-ocean transportation from the mainland! If the United States has the power to control the sea and cut off Spain's maritime supply line, then its 200,000 troops in Cuba will all become turtles in the jar; without the supply of domestic supplies, this army will collapse without fighting! At that time, they will either die in battle or enter the American prisoner-of-war camp; these two results are unbearable for Spain. As for retreat? Sorry, Cuba is the only fertile land left by the Spanish, and they have never planned to give up Cuba!

Therefore, in order to protect Cuba and at the same time ensure that their 200,000 troops in Cuba are not taken away by the Americans, Spain must strengthen their maritime power; even if they cannot defeat the Americans, at least they cannot let the other party completely control the sea control.

However, if Spain starts to expand the navy step by step now, it is undoubtedly not enough in time. The construction of the navy is no better than that of the army. The army can only pull a rifle into the hands of the reserve officers and soldiers, and if the navy wants to build a shape, it must go through a long battleship construction cycle. At present, even with the industrial strength and ship manufacturing level of Britain and Germany, it will take two years for an ordinary cruiser to be completed, and the construction of large battleships

The construction cycle is close to 3 years. Now the sky above Cuba is covered with clouds and tense, and the Americans put their swords on the Spanish's neck, so how can the Spanish last three years? In this case, Spain has only one choice, that is, to ask other powers to sell the active warships to Spain, and if the performance cannot be too backward! Only in this way can Spain quickly form combat power at sea and use it to resist the United States' upcoming military strike against Cuba!

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Do it as soon as possible. In the next nearly a month, Spanish ambassadors to Britain, France, Italy and Russia visited the heads of government of these countries and expressed their hope to purchase active warships. However, what disappointed the Spanish people was that none of these four countries actually agreed!

At this time, Russia was spared no effort to implement the strategy of Far East expansion, which had great demand for naval warships; in this case, they could not share their already unpopular assets to the Spanish. Italy's attitude was similar. The Garibal Class Armored Cruiser of God emerged, which caused a sensation in the entire Italian Navy (the great powers of Britain, France, Russia and other countries ignored Italy in a gorgeous way); just as the navy was full of longing, the hungry wolves abroad did not invite him to come and offered to purchase the new type of ship. The Italian government was tempted by money and actually sold all the most advanced warships on the ship! The five Garibal Class Armored Cruiser that Italy had first started construction were lying on the ship platform, and were not yet ready to go into the water.

Argentina and Spain swept away; and because Italy's own industrial power is limited, it is the limit to build five 6,800-ton mount patrols in one go. The consequence of this was that Italy itself only started to build its own Garibal Class patrol in 1898, four years later, which undoubtedly seriously dragged down the construction speed of the Italian Navy. Now the Italian Navy saw the weasel stealing chickens coming to greet him again, and directly expressed its rejection and refused to sell active warships no matter what. What's more, Italy's dream of dominating the Mediterranean has been obsessed with, but now their navy is lagging behind the squadrons of Britain and France in the Mediterranean region; Italy's own warships are still insufficient, so why would it sell its active warships to Spain?
Chapter completed!